Dubai: A delegation led by the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) travelled to Cape Town, South Africa on Wednesday to increase awareness of Dubai’s destination offering in the African market during the World Travel Market (WTM), according to a statement on Wednesday.
DTCM is also trying to attract more leisure tourists from Africa through participating at WTM, which will run from May 2 to May 3.
Promoting the emirate in markets that have growth potential, such as Latin America and Africa, are key components of Dubai’s tourism vision for 2020, according to the statement. Under the vision, which was announced last year, Dubai expects to double the number of visitors from 10 million to 20 million by 2020.
Total trade between Dubai and South Africa stood at Dh5.4 billion in 2012, up 96.1 per cent over the Dh2.7 billion worth of trade in 2011. Dubai’s trade with Brazil, meanwhile, was valued at Dh3.7 billion in 2012, up 28.4 per cent from Dh2.88 billion in 2011.
Increased business
“Dubai is already a major business events destination for African businesses and now we are seeing increased leisure visitors from African countries. In Latin America too, our recently opened office in Brazil and increased direct flights have resulted in increased business and leisure visitors,” said Hamad Bin Mejren, executive director of business tourism, in a statement.
Last year Dubai saw 80,047 South African visitors and 46,878 Brazilian visitors.
Emirates operates 42 direct weekly flights to Dubai from Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.
